Anna’s Video Pick


the quirky,
the intriguing,
the aesthetically pleasing.

Anna Daniels highlights videos found on the web to illustrate her distinct point of view on current events and issues.

“How many sidewalks are you going to close before we are all gone?” News of the Occupy Movement Week Ending 11-13-11

November 13, 2011 by Anna Daniels
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This week’s story is the utter appalling hypocrisy exposed in how the police responded to two protests on November 9. The first took place at Cal Berkeley, where a thousand students protested the steep hikes in student tuition and the ongoing administrative tilt toward privatization. They attempted to establish an occupation on the campus with tents. The police viciously lunged with their batons at students who had linked arms. There were 39 arrests that day and no one knows how many of these young people are still walking around with welts on their body from that barbaric attack. As a post script, we now know that linking arms is a form of violence that justified the police response.

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If the Occupy Movement is “as American as Apple Pie,” Why are Our Police Beating and Arresting Us?

November 11, 2011 by Anna Daniels
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….and lobbing tear gas canisters and shooting rubber bullets at us?

“And so, demonstrating like this is as American as apple pie. We have been marching up and down and demonstrating throughout our history…” Former Secretary of State Colin Powell

Why is there the footprint of a jack boot in the America pie?

We’ve all seen by now the “people’s” videos of non-violent women in NYC being surrounded with orange net and pepper sprayed by the police…

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Occupy Movement in the News for the Week Ending 11-7-11: “We are here to take care of each other!”

November 6, 2011 by Anna Daniels
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This week’s news of the movement takes place against the backdrop of two reports also released this week that detail how the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer .” We knew that already. Now we can update our signs…

The leading story is Occupy Oakland’s successful general strike and temporary port shutdown this past Wednesday. Estimates are all over the map about how many people participated over the course of the day to protest the violent eviction of Occupiers and wounding of an Iraq War vet by police during the previous week. Check out this raw chopper video of the march to the port and do a head count yourself!

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This Week’s Leading Occupy Wall Street Stories

October 30, 2011 by Anna Daniels
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The biggest story of the week is the number of arrests made at Occupy encampments large and small across the whole country and the late night/early morning police raids that have generated so many of those arrests.

The most gripping example was the early morning dismantling of Occupy Oakland by police with riot gear. The whole world was watching as Iraq War Vet for Peace Scott Olsen was dragged to safety at a protest later that day after being left bloodied and prostrate on the ground by a police projectile. The image of someone in a wheel chair maneuvering through a cloud of smoke and tear gas was no less gut wrenching. Mayor Jean Quan decides to make nice with the occupiers the following day.

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Anna’s Video Pick – Bad Lip Reading the GOP Presidential Debate

October 20, 2011 by Anna Daniels
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Throughout Tuesday’s made for Reality TV GOP debate I kept muttering- “just answer the damn question” while trying to imagine Romney and the Not Romneys as president of the United States. Their responses to the foreclosure crisis, immigration and foreign policy were so far off the rails that my brain had to come up with a coping mechanism.

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Rick Perry’s “The Response:” Prayer… and Profit in the Political Wilderness?

August 6, 2011 by Anna Daniels
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“Pray for your Governor,” exhorts the Lord of Hosts, “for I desire to use him and raise him up. Pray for his protection and for those around him, for all that concerns him in this critical hour, for he is Mine…. He is a key player in the shift that must take place, indeed that has already begun issuing forth from My innermost chambers.” Tom Schlueter, A Statewide Call to Prayer Day Thirty-Four, Texas Apostolic Prayer Network

“Next time I tell you someone from Texas should not be president of the United States, please pay attention.” Molly Ivins

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Need Money? El Cajon Young Republicans San Diego GOP operatives Pay “Activists”!

July 29, 2011 by Anna Daniels
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Author’s note 7/30/10: The link in the article below no longer goes to the original U-T article upon which I based this post (see the reposted article at Tenants Together). I’ll let you all decide whether the new article is an “update” or a “correction,” because in many ways it is a whole different animal.

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The Douche Distraction: Hail to the V, bye-bye Roe V Wade?

July 27, 2011 by Anna Daniels
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While the sturm und drang of the debt ceiling debate drowns out the howls of distress of the American public going down with the ship, we are being treated to an equally diversionary coverage of the significant women’s issue of the day. Did someone say douche? I didn’t say douche but someone said douche.

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BURNING DOWN THE HOUSE: Washington fiddles about the deficit while our job prospects, home security and economic future are toast

July 26, 2011 by Anna Daniels
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In the past weeks, American citizens have made it known in countless polls that they don’t want anyone to mess with their Social Security, their Medicare or Medicaid. And the majority of us have also said that it is about time to make the wealthiest among us to pay their fair share of taxes.

So why are we enmeshed in a months long debate about the friggin debt ceiling, which in the words of Jefferson Airplane, doesn’t mean shit to a tree (or the citizenry)?

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Above it all: Flying from sea to shining sea on the 4th of July

July 4, 2011 by Anna Daniels

Seven years ago today I was sitting on the tarmac in Los Angeles waiting for my plane to take off. I had booked a red eye flight to San Juan Puerto Rico, where I would spend the month studying bomba, a popular dance form, and immersing myself in all things Puerto Rican.

I was traveling post 9/11, meaning that the country was on alert this particular 4th of July for possible terrorist attacks. The thought gave me pause as I imagined my fellow countrymen and women gathered at cookouts, watching parades, and celebrating a national holiday. I also imagined myself, a tiny creature, strapped inside a relatively small metal object flying across the continent and then out to sea for the next seven hours of my life.

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Anna’s Video Pick – Rapture… End times… Better Bake a Cake!

May 20, 2011 by Anna Daniels
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The countdown to rapture has begun. Should I wear my trousers rolled? Do I dare to eat a peach? Nah. Better make a cake!

See the full article to view the video

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Anna’s Video Pick – Women Advocates Neuter American Men!!!

April 27, 2011 by Anna Daniels
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Congressman Allen West (R-FL) is on to the nefarious attempt of Planned Parenthood and Code Pink types to make men subservient. Just as we women were poised to become the Master Gender, our evil unnatural scheme of reducing men to meek yes ma’ams in between abortions has been ruined by this scholar- cum- congressman.

See inside for the video

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Anna’s Video Pick – The Egg & I

April 24, 2011 by Anna Daniels
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This video pick is in the key of quirky problem solving solutions. For those of you who will be facing a bumper crop of hard boiled eggs this weekend, here’s a novel way to shorten the time between egg and egg salad. Science! Projectiles! Yes!

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Anna’s Video Pick: Planned Parenthood Up Close & Personal

April 8, 2011 by Anna Daniels
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As I write this, the US Congress has still not agreed on a budget to keep our government from shutting down. The sticking point between paying our soldiers and keeping federal offices functioning is a rider which the Republicans introduced to eliminate funding to Planned Parenthood—or as they pitch it, to eliminate funding for abortions.

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Martin Luther King- I’ve Been to the Mountaintop

April 4, 2011 by Anna Daniels
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On April 3, 1968, Martin Luther King was in Memphis providing support and encouragement to 1300 African-American sanitation workers who had walked off their jobs in that city. His soaring prose repeats the mission that defined his life- the achievement of justice and equality for African-Americans which our constitution promised to each and every one of us. He made it clear that “We mean business now and we are determined to gain our rightful place in God’s world.”

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Anna’s Video Pick – The Fukushima 50

March 16, 2011 by Anna Daniels
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This video news clip is about the unknown Japanese workers who are putting their lives in peril to avert a nuclear disaster. This is a sobering reminder about what workers do.

The right in this country has declared war upon the working class. It is hard for me to imagine the Koch brothers putting their lives in peril to avert nuclear disaster. Maybe that’s worth thinking about too.

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Anna’s Video Pick – Banksy, Have You Reached a Verdict?

March 1, 2011 by Anna Daniels
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Banksy’s street art surprises one. It grabs the eye and attention by juxtaposing contradictory elements that leave some lingering question about what we perceive as inherent reality. His work is a combination of the satirical and subversive.

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Anna’s Video Pick – N.A.S.A. “Money”

February 24, 2011 by Anna Daniels
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Off to my wonderful OBcean tax preparer Byrna, with visions of Shepard Fairey dancing through my head. Byrna reminds me that the good news is that My Beloved and I, card carrying union members, have enough income to pay taxes. Hey! We’re middle class- for the moment! Our taxes are generally computed on a short form and last year our Federal and State tax rate was 13%. And the truth is we are ok with that- except for the war funding.

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Anna’s Video Pick – Ed Schultz in Madison Wisconsin

February 18, 2011 by Anna Daniels
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What does democracy look like? Does it look like teachers, police, firefighters, librarians, nurses, the people who remove snow and trash, and social workers who have peacefully and in large numbers turned out to support the right of working and middle class people to participate in unions and in the collective bargaining process?

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Anna’s Video Pick – Logorama

February 9, 2011 by Anna Daniels
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Caution, may not be suitable for work…

AOL has bought Huffington Post; Sarah and Bristol Palin have both filed to trademark their names. While we watch raw footage of the protests in the streets of Egypt carried out at times with sticks and stones, the click and whirr of mergers, branding, spin and insider knowledge continue unabated. We live in strange times.

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Anna’s video Pick – Carl Sagan and the Pale Blue Dot

January 29, 2011 by Anna Daniels
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Twenty five years ago, on January 28, 1986 the space shuttle Challenger broke into pieces, a mere 73 seconds into its flight. National tragedies have such a personal affect upon us that we can remember exactly where we were, exactly what we were doing, when we heard that John Kennedy, Martin Luther King and Bobby […]

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Anna’s Video Pick – Marcos Efron’s Common Practice

January 13, 2011 by Anna Daniels
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There are moments which transcend the need for words. Marcos Efron’s short video “Common Practice” reveals one of those moments.

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Anna’s Video Pick – Joyce Kaufman, “If Ballots Don’t Work, Bullets Will”

January 10, 2011 by Anna Daniels
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Since I started this column a few months ago, I have concentrated upon the quirky, the intriguing, the aesthetically pleasing. No cute animal videos, no heavy political messages. I have felt that OB Rag needs to expand its presence into the world of arts and culture because the arts are where we voice what it […]

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Anna’s Video Pick – Tyger!

January 2, 2011 by Anna Daniels
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Check out this tyger on the prowl through the nighttime streets and hillsides of Sao Paulo. His roars awaken the teeming natural world that exists unseen beneath the surface of the city. This animated metamorphosis is filled with the urgency and power of life pushing, flying and just hanging out.

William Blake’s words “And what shoulder, & what art. /Could twist the sinews of thy heart?” are given a voluptuous Brazilian twist.

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Anna’s Video Pick – Imagine

December 22, 2010 by Anna Daniels
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Imagine a country with a pacifist constitution that prohibits its military from marching off to war. Since the end of World War II Japan has had such a constitution that limits the use of force to a strictly defensive capacity. Japanese soldiers have been sent every February to the city of Sapporo where they build […]

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Anna’s video pick – Behold the Power of the Internet

December 14, 2010 by Anna Daniels
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OBRag writer Doug Porter recommends this video about flash mob dynamics and the Global Guerrillas blog which posted it.

Doug adds “Now if we could only figure out a way to use this to bring down a couple of banks..”
Flash Mob Gone Wrong by Tom Scott, Ep 77

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The Complexity of Cats

November 29, 2010 by Anna Daniels
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    Today My Beloved and I dismantled the 90 pound dog cage that has sat in the middle of our very small living room for the past two weeks while we cared for our cat Blu. I am sure that the dry cat food (Whiskas meaty selections) that I was providing to our outdoor […]

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Anna’s Video Pick – Tripping on Tryptophan with ‘Synesthesia’

November 25, 2010 by Anna Daniels
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Synesthesia (from answers.com)

1. A condition in which one type of stimulation evokes the sensation of another, as when the hearing of a sound produces the visualization of a color.

2. A sensation felt in one part of the body as a result of stimulus applied to another, as in referred pain.

If you don’t feel compelled to eat everything on your Thanksgiving laden plate, at least LISTEN to your food!

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Anna’s Video Pick, Johnny Cash – American VI

November 10, 2010 by Anna Daniels

There Ain’t No Grave Gonna Hold My Body Down

Johnny Cash recorded American VI, which included this song, at the end of his 71 year old life. It was released posthumously to mixed reviews. This video is noteworthy because it provides exquisite crowd sourced, collaborative images as a visual accompaniment to Cash’s spare and deeply moving rendition.

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Anna’s Video Pick ~ Asi es como celebramos el Dia de Muertos en Oaxaca…

November 1, 2010 by Anna Daniels
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The Day of the Dead, November 2, is a national holiday in Mexico and is promoted widely as an effort to preserve indigenous traditions as well as to encourage tourism. Día de los Muertos is also widely observed and celebrated throughout the United States. Nowhere, however, in Mexico or in the United States, is the […]

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